Is life short or long? Which is true?
Up until about a month ago, I would have been all in that life was short. It’s certainly too short to deal with some of the crap that people throw at you.
But then I listed to a Gary Vee podcast (not my first). He said that if someone is 25 or 33 or something like that, then they have another 4-5 lives left to live. I thought “what?”. He explained that a 25 year old in 2018 will probably live healthily until 125 or more. If you think of how long it takes to get to 25, and all of the experiences and lessons that make up those 25 years, and then think of 4-5 more of those, that’s a long time.
I’ve been mulling over this for a week or so now. The more I think about it, the more it blows my mind.
I’m 45 now. I’ve packed a lot in those 45 years. Starting around age 12 with my first paper route, I’ve had about 30 jobs. Some were short-term summer jobs. Many were in high school and college. The longest I’ve been at one employer was 6 years. I’ve been with my current employer for about 19 months. Sometimes I worry that my resume will send red flags, but I rarely have trouble getting hired.
It took me 4 majors at 3 colleges over 6 years to get a 3-year Bachelor’s degree in Canada. I never knew what I wanted to do. Sometimes I still don’t. I used to worry that I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I don’t anymore. I know that what I’ll do in 10 or 20 years probably hasn’t even been invented yet. Think about that.
I’ve lived in 3 different countries, 4 Canadian provinces and 3 US states*. My wife and I drove from St-John’s, Newfoundland to Vancouver, BC one summer. I’ve been to over half of the US states. I’ve been to 8 countries**.
I’ve been married for almost 20 years. I have two kids in their early teens. I can’t believe that they’re that old.
I’ve learned (or attempted to learn) 4 languages, 5 musical instruments, 4 competitive sports.
I hate all these “I’s”, I’m not trying to brag, but man, I’ve have a very full life. It might not even be half over!
Now that I know what I know, and have learned from all of the mistakes that I’ve made, my second life is going to so much more amazing!
If you’re less than 80 years old, then you have a ton of life left. Live! Try things, go places, do things. Make your life happy and meaningful. It’s too long to be miserable.
If you’re closer to 20 than 60, think of how many times you can take risks and mess it all up and still have plenty of time to make it back. If you’re 20, you could have as few as 6 full and long careers in completely different areas. Think of all the places that you could live. It’s amazing!
While life may be too short for some things, I’m convinced that life is long.
Take time to live.
*I lived in ND for a summer as a house-sitter. Some might say that isn’t really living in the state, but I’m counting it. It’s my post!
** In case you’re interested: Canada, US, Cuba, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Finland. I don’t count Great Britain, Russia and Azerbaijan, because I didn’t leave the airports there. That’s our family rule.
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